One day, our entire language will be abbreviated.

[Syntax Error]

?|-|0£þ! 7|-|? ?µ7µ|2? 0? 7|-|? ?|\|9£¡§|-| £@|\|9µ@9?.

Now that's just rude. As if leet speak wasn't enough. What's sad is I was able to read both that and Uncyclopedia's article on leet speak.

 

[xitel]

I saw "lol" in a book. A novel. In a published novel!

Please, please tell me you're joking.

No. And it wasn't even used ironically. One of the characters actually said "'lol that was so funny.'"

 

[falcontwin]

The problem with abreviations is that they do not work in real life most of the time. If someone says TMI! to you you look at them like they are retarded until they say it means "To Much Information". Then you tell them to fuck off for using a retarded abreviation.

I guess they are a good indication of who you should not ever speak to again though. If someone ever said lol or ROFL out loud whilst I was speaking to them I can be pretty sure this person is someone I should avoid. Just like those people with the "I Have A Gun And I Vote" bumper stickers, It's an early warning device that warns you that there is no need to have a conversation with this person it will only end with frustration on your part and them feeling intelligent because you gave up on the conversation first as you were about to have an anuerism due to the massive amounts of stupidity involved.

 

[Ago Iterum]

?|-|0£þ! 7|-|? ?µ7µ|2? 0? 7|-|? ?|\|9£¡§|-| £@|\|9µ@9?.

Ah yes. A sage comment my friend.

Oh yes. Of all the abbreviations consisting of the symbol '£', he WOULD pick that one... Typical.

 

[Sgt Doom]

I don't mind abbreviation of typed language, means you spend less time faffing about in CS:S, time in which an opposing player may spend carving your buttocks into thin slices of ham for their sandwiches. But I completely fail to see the point in bringing all that into spoken language.

 

[Aidanadv]

Laser. I totally flipped out when I learned that was an acronym.

It is?! OF WHAT?!

Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

 

[tomdablob]

Laser. I totally flipped out when I learned that was an acronym.

It is?! OF WHAT?!

Light Amplification by Stimulation Emission of Radiation

 

[tomdablob]

Sorry, 'stimulated'

 

[PlasticPorter]

that sounds doubleplusgood to me party member!

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

1 thng tis intrestin 2 thnk bout - a few 100 yrs ago wd nt b much we cud understnd if we went bk in time + it all chnged 2 wat we no 2day by wrd o mth only since genral popn dint read/communcate exept in their communitys. Till Victorian priod nwzpaprs wer nt genraly red + since then lang. hz evolvd v quick.
Wit t' advent of t'net en IM ppl wil want 2 transfer info fastr + we cn only imagn hw ppl wil b tlkin in nxt 50-100 yrs!

Good god, it reads like the comments section of my Bebo, only longer and with a bigger vocabulary.

 

[tomdablob]

1 thng tis intrestin 2 thnk bout - a few 100 yrs ago wd nt b much we cud understnd if we went bk in time + it all chnged 2 wat we no 2day by wrd o mth only since genral popn dint read/communcate exept in their communitys. Till Victorian priod nwzpaprs wer nt genraly red + since then lang. hz evolvd v quick.
Wit t' advent of t'net en IM ppl wil want 2 transfer info fastr + we cn only imagn hw ppl wil b tlkin in nxt 50-100 yrs!

Good god, it reads like the comments section of my Bebo, only longer and with a bigger vocabulary.

Unfortunately since I never usually type like that it took me about three times longer than normal to write it out!

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

1 thng tis intrestin 2 thnk bout - a few 100 yrs ago wd nt b much we cud understnd if we went bk in time + it all chnged 2 wat we no 2day by wrd o mth only since genral popn dint read/communcate exept in their communitys. Till Victorian priod nwzpaprs wer nt genraly red + since then lang. hz evolvd v quick.
Wit t' advent of t'net en IM ppl wil want 2 transfer info fastr + we cn only imagn hw ppl wil b tlkin in nxt 50-100 yrs!

Good god, it reads like the comments section of my Bebo, only longer and with a bigger vocabulary.

Unfortunately since I never usually type like that it took me about three times longer than normal to write it out!

Haha, yeah, that's what it's like for me, too.

 

[KenzS]

Our language is inevitably going to change, look what feminism has already done to it.

"I think mankind ought to be human kind, but they take it too far, they take themselves too seriously, they exaggerate." - George Carlin

 

[Cinder Block of Oppression]

I just figure it out. I got skills like that.

 

[Lord Krunk]

The day abbreviations become part of the english language is the day I go on a killing spree.

Which I won't.

 

[KungFuMaster]

Well, I play World or Warcraft. And it seems that every 5 minutes, I'm being laughed at for asking what someone means when they produce a stupid chain of letters that's supposed to mean something to me. And what originates in games like this, has been brought into other areas of the internet, and NOW, into real life.

Now, some abbreviations, that are known worldwide, are fine with me. But does this give excuse to abbreviate everything, and expect everyone to know what you mean?

What's your worst experience with abbreviations, and more to the point, do you agree that it's getting slightly out of hand?

Discuss!

Read "I Will Fear No Evil" by Robert A. Heinlein, I've been fearing the worst for ten years...

Laser. I totally flipped out when I learned that was an acronym.

So's scuba.

 

[zen5887]

Language evolves over time. Abbreviating, which is the practice of making complex words and concepts simpler and easier to say/type/write is part of how language evolves, and is a constant process that will never end. This always has been and always will be the case.

You would be suprised how many words you already use in regular speech that are in fact abbreviations. For instance "car" is an abbreviation of "horseless carriage". When people started using the word "car" in wide circulation there were a lot of whiners who wrote letters to publications (t'was what one did before the days of the internet forum) complaining that this was just another example of the English language going down the toilet. When "car" was included in the dictionary there was a predictable uproar. But now the word is accepted, in fact it's so normal to use the word "car" now that a lot of you reading this probably won't even believe this paragraph.

I won't be at all suprised if 'lol' makes it into the dictionary soon. Then maybe ten years later we'll probably gets 'lulz' in there. Language evolving before you eyes. Get used to it.

Well there you go!

Yeah I agree that this is just the way it'll go. How many people speak like they did in the 16th century?

Not to mention the army have been abbreviating words for a while now.

 

[KungFuMaster]

Laser. I totally flipped out when I learned that was an acronym.

So's scuba.

I know, but I'm pretty sure scuba is a better known acronym than laser. For the longest time (a decade I think) I always thought laser was a word of its own. Needless to say, the revelation was mind blowing.

Yeah, and now, like most of the rest of us, you too can pitch a fit when some dumb-ass spells it "lazer".

Not to mention the army have been abbreviating words for a while now.

Actually, the Army doesn't really abbreviate much of anything, as a matter of fact, they give everything fifteen names, then they make acronyms of those names and nonsense words are born out of trying to read all that muck, and here's a prime example: The Army's "go-to" vehicle since retiring the Jeep has been the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, "acronymed" down to HMMWV, and nonsensed into "Humvee" or "Hummer" (which actually got the banhammer from the Army, some equal rights bullshit about the sexual connotations...in my experience with the armed forces, most of the females have bigger balls than the men.) and now colloquially known as "Pretentious Asshat Mobile."

Sorry about making "acronym" and "nonsense" into verbs, I feel dirty.